Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology
Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.
Compiled by Ulli Diemer
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December 6, 1848
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Harriet Tubman (1820 or 1821 - 1913), an African-American slave, escapes her owners in Maryland and goes to Philadelphia. After escaping, she immediately returns to Maryland to rescue her family. She makes repeated trips to help other slaves escape to the northern U.S. and then to Canada, using the network of activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
When the Civil War breaks out, Tubman works for the Union Army, first as a nurse and cook, and then as an armed scout and spy. She becomes the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, the Combahee River Raid, which frees more than 700 slaves. After the Civil War she is active in the women’s suffrage movement.
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December 6, 1921
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J.S. Woodsworth and William Irvine are elected to Canada’s Parliament as Independent Labour MPs.
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December 6, 1928
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The Banana massacre, (in Spanish, Matanza de las bananeras or Masacre de las bananeras), a massacre of United Fruit Company workers in the town of Ciénaga, Colombia. An unknown number of workers die after the government sends the military to crush a month-long strike.
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December 6, 1989
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Fourteen women are murdered at at L’ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. December 6 is now commemorated in Canada as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
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December 6, 1998
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Hugo Chavez is elected president of Venezuela.
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